Texas football flip target, 4-Star Jelani McDonald, de-commits from OK State
There is a lot of activity on the recruiting trail early this week, with some moves that are bound to impact the outcome of the 2023 Texas football recruiting class. One of the recent flip targets that emerged for Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian, the rising four-star Waco Connally athlete Jelani McDonald, re-opened his recruitment on the afternoon of Oct. 25.
McDonald announced via a post on social media on Oct. 25 that “I am opening up my recruitment 100%”.
That means that head coach Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys are losing their highest-rated commitment in the 2023 class. Granted, McDonald did say in this de-commitment tweet that “Oklahoma State University is my number 1 school”.
McDonald took an unofficial visit to Texas on Oct. 15 for the game against the Iowa State Cyclones that resulted in a win for the Longhorns at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. And it looks like a return trip to Austin for an official visit later this fall is very possible for McDonald.
Texas football sees 4-Star ATH target Jelani McDonald de-commit from Oklahoma State
In fact, I would say that a return visit for McDonald to take an OV to Austin now seems even more likely following his de-commitment from Oklahoma State.
McDonald originally received an offer from Texas on Oct. 11. He had also recently received an offer from the Ole Miss Rebels, which came back on Sep. 8.
AGTG‼️‼️Thanks to @CoachChoateUT I am blessed to be given an offer from the University of Texas🤘🏾 @4L_CAdair #gohorns #longhorns pic.twitter.com/S7M4WxR12H
— Jelani McDonald (@jelani_mcd24) October 11, 2022
Moreover, McDonald announced his de-commitment from Oklahoma State nearly four months after originally giving his pledge to Gundy and the Pokes (July 1).
While it certainly looks like Texas will be in a good spot to eventually haul in a commitment from McDonald, this staff will still need to fend off some other competition for this blue-chip recruit. It looks like Ole Miss and the Texas A&M Aggies are still interested in pushing for the commitment of McDonald. Others could jump into the mix now with his recruitment open.
Next. 4 reasons why Texas should be optimistic heading into the bye week. dark
Texas currently holds commitments from 21 recruits in the 2023 class as of Oct. 25. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2023 Texas recruiting class ranks at